California faces ‘critical’ wildfire risk as heat wave builds winds may
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Dry, windy weather posed an extreme wildfire risk Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, in Northern California, where massive blazes already have cost hundreds of homes and killed or injured dozens of people. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)Thirty-one people have died so far this wildfire season and more than 9,200 structures have been destroyed. Fall is typically the state's peak wildfire season, but many of the blazes came much earlier in 2020. In this Sept. 9, 2020, file image taken with a slow shutter speed, embers light up a hillside behind the Bidwell Bar Bridge as the Bear Fire burns in Oroville, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)Most of the huge fires have been fully or substantially contained over the past eight weeks. But 11,500 firefighters remain still on the lines. A dome of heat burning across the Southwest is once again helping to create conditions leading to wildfire spread. The heat continues over California and the Southwest on Wednesday where record highs will be possible and heat advisories are in place. A cold front moving in from the Northwest is creating conditions that could allow for Diablo winds that blow from land to sea in the northern part of California. Forecast high temperatures across Southern California for Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. (Fox News)"This cold front is pretty gusty so it's going to bring the winds and the potential for more wildfire danger," Fox News Senior Meteorologist Janice Dean said on "Fox & Friends."Heat advisories stretch through Southern California on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. (Fox News)Those enjoying the warm temperatures across the Plains on Wednesday should prepare for some changes. The strong cold front is on the move that will bring in much colder air by Thursday, with some areas feeling drops of 20-30 degrees. Areas at risk of fire danger for Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. (Fox News)Many states across the Plains and into California are under red flag warnings with "elevated to critical" fire danger as the winds kick up and dry, warm conditions set the stage for possible wildfires. There are still 73 large wildfires burning across the West. The national forecast for Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. (Fox News)The potentially dangerous conditions have spurred the nation's largest utility to warn it may begin cutting power Wednesday evening to as many as 54,000 customers in 24 counties.“We really view it as a last resort option,” Mark Quinlan, the company’s incident commander, told The Associated Press. The utility also has deployed generators and other measures to keep electricity flowing in some areas that might otherwise have lost power during the outages, Quinlan said. Fox News' Brandon Noriega and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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